"For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you." -Genesis 6:17-18
Something I noticed this morning in my reading: God's covenant with Noah wasn't established when he built the ark, it was when he entered it. It makes sense though, Noah had faith that God would save him and his family but if he simply built the ark and that was it, he would have been out in the rain with everyone else.
Can you picture that scenario? Noah having that doubt that the rain, which never appeared before the flood, would come and deciding to wait and see what that would look like? The rain didn't come until after Noah entered the ark and the Lord "shut him in" as the Bible says, but I can imagine Noah out waiting to see the rain come and being too late.
That didn't happen though. Noah believed the word of God and showed faith as it is described in the New Testament "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17) and listened rather than waited to see for himself that God would keep his word. As a result, he was saved by showing his faith in God by entering the ark and the covenant was established.
This really got me thinking about covenants seen in the Bible and I could borrow from so many sermons analyzing the meaning of the word and breaking down the difference between a covenant and a contract I'm not doing that. It's not where God has my heart today. What really has me thinking about covenants is how they are shown with, as I see with Noah, a sign of faith.
With the many examples of faith shown in the Old Testament, you can see that it wasn't their actions that saved them, but the faith that drove those actions to establish their covenant with God and saved them.
Noah wasn't saved by building the ark, he was saved by believing in God and entering the ark. Abraham wasn't saved by sacrificing his son Isaac; he was saved by having faith that God would establish a nation from which a savior would be born even if it meant the loss of his son. Rahab wasn't saved from the fall of Jericho by saving the spies; she was saved because she had faith in the god they worshiped and hid those spies as a sign of her faith.
Likewise, in our New Testament covenant with Jesus we aren't saved by simply asking for forgiveness for our sins, we are saved by our faith that the work of Jesus is sufficient and will cover our sins and that God our Father will forgive us of our sins. Our faith in the Word that Jesus is sufficient to save is when we enter that ark.
My prayer for my own life today, as I continue to think about covenants, is where I continue to show this faith. Where am I showing lack of faith as I chose to give in to sin rather than die to it daily? Where am I not believing that Jesus is sufficient?
Something I noticed this morning in my reading: God's covenant with Noah wasn't established when he built the ark, it was when he entered it. It makes sense though, Noah had faith that God would save him and his family but if he simply built the ark and that was it, he would have been out in the rain with everyone else.
Can you picture that scenario? Noah having that doubt that the rain, which never appeared before the flood, would come and deciding to wait and see what that would look like? The rain didn't come until after Noah entered the ark and the Lord "shut him in" as the Bible says, but I can imagine Noah out waiting to see the rain come and being too late.
That didn't happen though. Noah believed the word of God and showed faith as it is described in the New Testament "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17) and listened rather than waited to see for himself that God would keep his word. As a result, he was saved by showing his faith in God by entering the ark and the covenant was established.
This really got me thinking about covenants seen in the Bible and I could borrow from so many sermons analyzing the meaning of the word and breaking down the difference between a covenant and a contract I'm not doing that. It's not where God has my heart today. What really has me thinking about covenants is how they are shown with, as I see with Noah, a sign of faith.
With the many examples of faith shown in the Old Testament, you can see that it wasn't their actions that saved them, but the faith that drove those actions to establish their covenant with God and saved them.
Noah wasn't saved by building the ark, he was saved by believing in God and entering the ark. Abraham wasn't saved by sacrificing his son Isaac; he was saved by having faith that God would establish a nation from which a savior would be born even if it meant the loss of his son. Rahab wasn't saved from the fall of Jericho by saving the spies; she was saved because she had faith in the god they worshiped and hid those spies as a sign of her faith.
Likewise, in our New Testament covenant with Jesus we aren't saved by simply asking for forgiveness for our sins, we are saved by our faith that the work of Jesus is sufficient and will cover our sins and that God our Father will forgive us of our sins. Our faith in the Word that Jesus is sufficient to save is when we enter that ark.
My prayer for my own life today, as I continue to think about covenants, is where I continue to show this faith. Where am I showing lack of faith as I chose to give in to sin rather than die to it daily? Where am I not believing that Jesus is sufficient?
